Using figures of speech and other simple literary techniques, learn to develop your writing skills.

Stimulate your imagination with a series of visual prompts to create original and lively works. With a few tools and strategies of the craft, discover the joys of writing poetry.

This workshop promotes the development of rich, colourful and personal work. No steadfast rules, no competition, just fun for everyone!

For adults and teens ages 15+. 

About the presenter: 

Michèle Vinet, guest of honour at the 2021 Salon du Livre de l’Outaouais, is an award-winning author. She has published three novels in French (Prise de parole) that have gleaned seven nominations and three awards: le prix Trillium, le prix Émile-Ollivier (Conseil supérieur de la langue française) and le prix littéraire Le Droit. She has also published poetry in English, Tendrils (BookLand Press). Her novel Le malaimant (L’Interligne), published in 2021, was finalist to the Trillium Book Award and is the winner of the City of Ottawa Book Award 2022. JAZ, her next novel will be out in September 2023.

The author offers creative writing workshops to the public as well as for the Ottawa Public Library, in schools and universities, community centres, in the penitentiary system, in the field of mental health and Amnesty International.

Her work is the subject of interviews, articles, signings, book fairs, videos, podcasts and various literary presentations.

The world is on fire and nothing is okay. What does this feel like? There are a lot of standard names for what we feel when we think about global warming, wide-spread extinction of creatures, and, well, [gestures generally]: Anxiety, grief, anger, fear, blankness. Sometimes the way we talk about feelings shapes what we feel, and so it matters what words we have. We might not have all the words we need to understand the experience of climate crisis.

In this hands-on workshop, we’ll discuss some theories about emotions and expression, why writing is a good way to explore feelings we don’t have a name for, and how to practice finding our “outlaw emotions” about big problems.

About the presenter

Alexis Shotwell is a professor at Carleton University, on unceded Algonquin land. She is a writer, SF nerd, queer, functional potter, currently obsessed with doing handstands. She’s the author of Against Purity: Living Ethically in Compromised Times and working on a book about getting together to solve big problems in which we are complicit.

Presented in partnership with the Ottawa Writers Festival.

The completely bilingual virtual book club Un livrel / One eRead Canada, offered in Canadian libraries from one ocean to the other, is launching its third edition.

In April 2023, we offer you Ce qu’on respire sur Tatouine/Tatouine par/by Jean-Christophe Réhel.  For the month of April, the eBooks and eAudio will be available for simultaneous access.*

Come and join us for a discussion with the English translators, Katherine Hastings and Peter McCambridge, who will be interviewed by Shelagh Rogers. You can join them on the Zoom call or watch live on YouTube.

Registrants will receive an additional email with the Zoom link two days before the program.

This event is happening in partnership with CULC. The Canadian Urban Libraries Council has the mission to facilitate advocacy, collaboration, and research that strengthens and promotes the value of Canada’s urban libraries as integral to a vibrant democracy, a strong economy, and thriving communities.

Peter McCambridge 

Originally from Ireland, Peter McCambridge holds a BA in modern languages from Cambridge University, England, and has lived in Quebec City since 2003. His translations have been World Literature Today Notable Translations, longlisted for Canada Reads, and finalists for the Giller Prize and the Governor General’s Award for Translation.

Katherine Hastings

Katherine Hastings is a Quebec-based French-to-English translator and English copyeditor. She has translated two novels by Jean-Michel Fortier, The Unknown Huntsman (published 2016) and The Electric Baths (2020); co-translated Tatouine, a novel by Jean-Christophe Réhel (2020); and revised numerous other books for QC Fiction, an imprint of Baraka Books, including Éric Dupont’s 2018 Giller Prize finalist Songs for the Cold of Heart. She has also translated several works of non-fiction, including Montreal and the Bomb by Gilles Sabourin (2021) and The Plains of Abraham: Battlefield 1759 and 1760 by historian Hélène Quimper and the National Battlefields Commission, published in 2022. 

Shelagh Rogers 

Shelagh Rogers is a veteran broadcast-journalist, currently host and co-producer of CBC Radio’s The Next Chapter, devoted to writing in Canada. She is an honorary witness to the work of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and an Officer of the Order of Canada. In 2016, she was awarded the inaugural Margaret Trudeau Award for Mental Health Advocacy. She holds honorary doctorates from eight Canadian universities and is Chancellor of the University of Victoria. Shelagh is of Métis and Scottish ancestry. Her great-grandmother Edith Rogers was the first Michif woman, and the first woman, elected to the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba. Edith was from Norway House, where David A. Robertson’s family has deep roots.

*The French eAudio is available from a special production of Radio-Canada’s OHdio, available now.

En utilisant des figures de style et autres simples procédés littéraires, développez vos habiletés en écriture.

Stimulez votre imagination avec une série de déclencheurs visuels afin de créer des textes originaux et imagés. Avec quelques outils et stratégies du métier, découvrez la joie d’écrire de la poésie.

Cet atelier est conçu pour promouvoir la rédaction de textes riches, colorés et personnels. Aucunes règles, aucune concurrence, que du plaisir pour tous.

Pour adultes et ados de 15 ans et plus. 

À propos de la présentatrice: 

Michèle Vinet, invitée d’honneur au Salon du livre de l’Outaouais 2021, a publié  trois romans (Prise de parole) qui se sont mérités sept mises en nomination ainsi que trois prix littéraires: le prix Trillium, (Ontario) le prix Émile-Ollivier (Conseil supérieur de la langue française, Québec) et le prix littéraire Le Droit (Ottawa). Son roman Le malaimant, paru en février 2021, (L’Interligne) a été finaliste au Trillium et lauréat du Prix du Livre d’Ottawa 2022. JAZ, son prochain roman, paraîtra en septembre 2023.

L’auteure donne des ateliers de créations littéraires pour le grand public ainsi que pour la Bibliothèque publique d’Ottawa, plusieurs écoles et universités, en centres communautaires, en milieu carcéral, dans le domaine de la santé mentale et pour Amnistie Internationale. Son travail fait l’objet d’entrevues, d’articles, de vidéos, de balado, de séances de signatures, de présentations variées et de spectacles littéraires.